Chapters are convenient. They divide stories into bite-sized chunks. They might tell readers what to expect next. They can set the atmosphere with a neat font. It's a shame there are only chapters in books. Right?
A writer decides to include chapters, regardless of the work's medium.
Chapters may or may not be numbered. If they are numbered, some numbers may be skipped. Sometimes this is done similar to a Storybook Opening, displaying an open book with literal chapter titles. Sometimes the movie preserves the original chapter titles from its source material (if it is an adaptation). Some chapter titles indicate a progression of time, such as days of the week or months of the year. In other cases, the chapter titles merely serve to separate and foreshadow different plot arcs or bring Idiosyncratic Episode Naming to a film. This may be done in the style of a Title Card.
Examples:
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Anime
- Tekkonkinkreet is split into five chapters (Summer/Fall/Winter/Spring/Summer), each introduced by a title card.
Film
- April Showers has "Monday", "Tuesday", and so on.
- Argentinian movie The Aura is broken down in chapters for each weekday, displayed as as Title In.
- The Latvian animated film Away is divided into four chapters that are named after significant locations its protagonist visits during the story.
- Babe and its sequel Babe: Pig in the City are both divided into chapters marked by title cards, which are read aloud by a trio of mice.
- South Korean thriller Beasts Clawing at Straws is split into six chapters, with title cards based on a top-down shot of blood pooled around a metal floor register.
- In Casino Royale (1954)note , each of the three acts is preceded with text showing up on screening stating the title and the act number.
- In Clerks, there are frequent chapter titles which appear in white font on a plain black screen briefly. Most of the chapter titles are single obscure vocabulary words, like "Perspicacity" or "Dénouement."
- Donnie Darko creates suspense by counting down the time to Donnie's death with the use of title cards throughout the movie, e.g. "October 10 1988 (Twenty Days Remain)".
- Gus Van Sant's Elephant (2003) comes in twelve chapters each named after and focusing on a different character.
- Gone Girl has the days counting up on screen as the search for the missing wife progresses, e.g. "July 9th (four days gone)"
- The Hunt (2012) has a Title In for each new month as the story progresses.
- Independence Day has its three acts introduced with the dates of "July 2," "July 3," and "July 4."
- Each day in Jeepers Creepers 2 gets its own Title In.
- The Number 23 labels each new day on screen.
- Requiem for a Dream: Title cards announce the three chapters of the film: Summer, Fall, and Winter.
- Each new day in Se7en gets its own Title In with the name of the weekday.
- Kubrick's The Shining is loosely divided by chapter screens for each new day of the week.
- Sisu: Title cards announce a total of seven chapters over the course of the film.
- Southland Tales actually starts with Chapter IV, as the first three chapters were covered in a tie-in graphic novel.
- The Suicide Squad has the titles of the different chapters made up of various background elements such as fire, clouds, leaves, and junk. The only chapter with text that's not integrated to the background is the final chapter, "Suicide Squad vs. Starro the Conqueror".
- The Three Stooges: The 2012 film has its three acts introduced with episode titles in the vein of the origjnal shorts: "More Orphan Than Not", "The Bananas Split" and "No Moe Mister Nice Guy"
- Ugly chapters each new the day of the week.
Directors
- Wes Anderson favors chaptering.
- Rushmore is broken down into chapters for each month passing. Opening curtains are used to get into each new chapter.
- The Grand Budapest Hotel has chapter screens for each of the five parts.
- The Royal Tenenbaums is split into many chapter numbers, including a prologue.
- Not only do many Quentin Tarantino films have chapter titles—they even share the same style: Title In with white font on a black screen.
- In Pulp Fiction, there are three chapter titles throughout the movie shown in underlined white font on a black screen, such as "THE BONNIE SITUATION" and "THE GOLD WATCH."
- In Kill Bill, there are ten numbered and titled chapters throughout Vol. 1 & 2 (five in each), appearing in white font on a black screen, such as "Chapter Nine: ELLE and I."
- In Inglourious Basterds, there are five numbered and titled chapters, appearing in white font on a black screen, such as "Chapter Four: OPERATION KINO."
- In The Hateful Eight, there are six numbered and titled chapters, appearing in white font on a black screen, such as "Chapter Four: Domergue's Got a Secret."
- Director Lars von Trier loves this trope:
- Breaking the Waves has seven chapters and an epilogue introduced with Title Ins on landscape shots.
- Melancholia has a Two-Act Structure in which each part is named after one of the sisters and is shown on a Title Card.
- Nymphomaniac has eight chapters with proper chapter screens before each new section.
Live Action TV
- CSI: NY: The series' next-to-last episode, "Blood Actually," is the only one to do either of these things: three cases are shown sequentially instead of interwoven throughout, and the chapter titles are shown onscreen. They are "Love for Sale," "Love Is Blind," and "In the Name of Love."
- Frasier: Almost every episode has this.
Video Games
- The mainline Danganronpa games are divided into chapters, each of which begins with an unique fullscreen title card. Each chapter is further divided into "Daily Life" and "Deadly Life" (before and after the murder, respectively,) with the "Deadly Life" section also beginning with a title card.
- DROD: The Second Sky is divided into ten chapters, plus an optional Chapter 11 that contains the levels needed to unlock the Golden Ending.
- Eternal Sonata is divided into eight chapters which are displayed on-screen. Each is titled after the name of a Fryderyk Chopin piece featured in the chapter, such as "Chapter 3: Fantaisie-Impromptu" and "Chapter 6: Tristesse." "Final Chapter: Heaven's Mirror" actually features a piece which was created for the game as a piece that the fictional Chopin featured in the game composed. In the original Xbox 360 version, the chapter number and title were all featured on one line. For the PlayStation 3 version, the names of the compositions were displayed beneath the chapter numbers.
- Final Fantasy XIII-2 displays its chapter titles, or "episodes," on-screen accompanied by the location where they take place, accompanied by narration from Lightning. See here
for an example.
- In games from the Half-Life series, the chapter title briefly fades onto the screen in white letters at the start of each chapter.
- The Sekimeiya: Spun Glass is divided into chapters, which begin with unique splash screens. Additionally, each chapter is divided into numerous subsections with unique titles, but these are not announced in-game and are only visible in the recap screen.
- Each game in the Trails Series, or The Legend of Heroes: Trails... as it's known in its English language releases has this, beginning with The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky and its opening "Prologue: A Father's Love, A New Beginning." They are shown both at the beginning and end of each chapter, with the ones shown at the end generally accompanied by both an achievement/trophy and the option to the save the game before moving to the next, as cutscenes at both the end and beginning of chapters tend to be fairly lengthy.
- Lunar: Walking School and its remake Magic School Lunar! are both divided into 12 individually titled chapters, though the names of the chapters and their contents can vary significantly.
- Max Payne and Max Payne 2 both divide their story into three acts, each with several chapters and each chapter mostly serving as a single level (in a few cases on platforms with limited hardware like the Playstation 2 longer levels could be further broken up). Each chapter's loading screen has a graphical illustration of a scene from the upcoming chapter's plot as well as the title of the act and chapter to go along with the graphic novel motif of the games.
- LEGO City Undercover's story mode is split up into 15 chapters, with a title card indicating the start of a new chapter. The remaster adds which act in the 4-act story structure the chapter is part of next to the chapter title.
